Vessel, in particular pressure vessel

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a vessel, particularly a pressure vessel, having a tubular housing part ( 10 ), in which a cover part ( 12 ) can be secured, characterized in that support segments ( 18 ) are inserted at least in some areas in a recess ( 14 ) on the interior ( 16 ) of the housing part ( 10 ), which segments provide support to the cover part ( 12 ) when it is installed, and that at least one fixing means ( 22 ) is provided, which ensures a releasable engagement between cover part ( 12 ) and at least one of the support segments ( 18 ).

The invention relates to a vessel, in particular a pressure vessel, having a tubular housing part, in which a cover part can be secured.

DE 39 04 816 C1 discloses a pressure vessel, in particular a pressure filter vessel, comprising a cover, which has an edge that can be pressed in a sealing manner onto the edge of the vessel with optional interpositioning of a disk by means of a pressing device, which has clamps comprising ends, which grip the cover, starting from the pressure vessel, and an actuated piston-cylinder system that presses axially against these clamps. Since the prior art solution has a piston-cylinder system that comprises a hydraulically or pneumatically operated annular cylinder with an annular piston that can be displaced upward against the ends of the clamps at the cover, the result is a fail-safe construction for the known pressure vessel solution with a pressing device. However, the pressure vessel and, in particular its associated closure system, has a complex design; and the manipulation of the fastening clamps is, therefore, very time consuming.

DE 42 15 232 C2 discloses a filter, in particular in the form of a fuel filter, which can be used for aircraft fueling units. Said filter comprises a filter housing with at least one inlet and one outlet connection and an opening that can be closed in a sealing manner in order to install and remove at least one filter insert that divides the filter housing into two internal compartments. In this case, one end of the filter insert rests against a mounting plate, which in turn has a displacement element that prevents the opening in the filter housing from closing in a sealing manner in the event that the filter insert is missing or the filter insert has been incorrectly installed. A closure cover for the filter compartment is provided with centering guides that prevent the closure cover from being fitted in an incorrect position. Furthermore, the cover is pressed, when viewed in the axial direction, against a sealing seat with screws.

Based on this prior art, the object of the invention is to provide a vessel, in particular a pressure vessel, which makes it possible to secure the cover part on a housing part in a fail-safe way and at the same time satisfies the objective of being able to fasten easily and quickly the cover part in a detachable manner in the housing.

Such an object is achieved with a vessel, in particular a pressure vessel, having the features specified in claim 1 in its entirety. In that, according to the characterizing part of claim 1, contact segments are inserted at least in some areas in a recess on the interior of the housing part, and these contact segments provide support for the cover part in its installed state, and that there is at least one securing means, which ensures a detachable engagement between the cover part and at least one of the contact segments, it is possible to secure said cover part easily and quickly in the housing part by means of the aforementioned contact segments, after the cover part has been inserted into the associated recess of the tubular housing part. It is surprising to the person skilled in the art of such vessels that he can then use just a few securing means, where appropriate use just one securing means, to connect in an operationally safe way all of the necessary contact segments to the housing part in such a way that the cover part is also accommodated in the housing part in a fail-safe way. The construction and installation of the contact segments into the housing part is also obvious to an assembler or operator, so that the vessel can be put into service without any major technological introduction. Moreover, the contact segments do not have to be inserted into the housing part at precisely defined installation points, but rather it is possible to install the contact segments at any point along the circumferential edge of the housing part, provided that care is taken to ensure that there is a specified order of assembly between the cover part and the associated contact segment.

In order to be able to open and close the vessel quickly, an external end stop that lies opposite the internal end stop is formed by providing a radially extending recess in the interior of the pressure vessel wall with at least two contact segments engaging with this recess; and these contact segments also make contact with the cover exterior when the pressure vessel is in the assembled state. The contact segments are arranged so as to be set apart from each other in such a way that the cover can be held axially in an undetachable manner and without tilting. When the pressure vessel is in operation, the resulting internal pressure presses the cover part against the contact segments, which are designed as relief elements in this respect, and the resulting forces are safely discharged into the housing part by means of the contact segments and the recess on the interior of the housing part.

Securing means are used to secure the contact segments inside the recess. In this context, the respective securing means can consist of a securing pin or a securing screw that extends through at least one of the contact segments that engage at least in some areas with an assigned opening of the cover part. In addition or as an alternative, it can be provided that the respective securing means consists, at least in some areas, of the recess on the interior of the housing part itself. Especially if the interior of the recess is provided with an inwardly tilted contact surface in the direction of the external end stop, the result is then an additional support that serves as the securing means.

In an especially preferred embodiment of the solution according to the invention, the contact segments are designed as wedge-shaped strip segments and extend in total around the relevant periphery of the cover. In this case, the contact segments are designed in such an advantageous manner that they occupy an unequal tangential extent along the outer circumference of the recess of the housing part. In this case, there are preferably two arc-shaped contact segments having an identical tangential extent relative to a third contact segment having a comparatively smaller tangential extent. In total, however, the three contact segments add up to a tangential extent having a radian measure of 360 degrees.

An additional preferred embodiment of the inventive solution for the vessel provides that the contact segment with the smaller tangential extent is secured on the interior of the housing part by means of just one single securing means, preferably, however, with two securing means inside the recess. Then the two other additional contact segments can make due without any additional securing means in the form of a securing pin or a securing screw and are secured in the recess only by means of the inner edge in the vessel. As a result, the contact segment with the respective securing means can be freed easily and quickly of said securing means and removed from the recess for the purpose of disassembling the additional contact segments and removing the cover part. For example, when a filter element that is supplied in the pressure vessel is consumed, it can be exchanged for a new element, provided that the pressure vessel according to the invention is designed as a pressure filter vessel. If the vessel serves only as a tank, then the securing means, like the securing pins or the securing screws, can be dispensed with; and the cover part can be held in its position exclusively by the contact segments inserted into the recess. Such an installation option exists, if there is no overpressure or only a slight overpressure relative to the ambient pressure in the interior of the vessel when the cover part is installed by means of the contact segments.

Another preferred embodiment of the vessel according to the invention provides that when the contact segments are inserted at least in pairs into the recess of the housing part, the contact segment that is to be inserted last can be inserted into the recess in parallel to the end faces of the adjacent contact segments, so that when the vessel is set up in the normal orientation, the cover part can be secured and detached again by a simple traversing movement in the horizontal direction.

In an additional preferred embodiment of the vessel according to the invention, at least one spacing and/or positioning element, which is made preferably of a sheet metal strip, can be inserted between the adjacent end faces of two abutting contact segments. Such an element makes it possible to compensate for production tolerances, so that it is still possible to assemble and disassemble the vessel with its cover part in an operationally safe way.

Furthermore, an especially preferred embodiment of the vessel according to the invention provides that the cover part has at least one pressure relief element that allows a continuous release of any overpressure that may prevail in the housing part relative to the ambient pressure from the assignable contact segment when at least one of the respective securing screws is present.

This feature increases the operating safety of the operating and assembly personnel who need not be afraid that the securing means under high pressure will be inadvertently ejected toward them during the disassembly of the cover part, a situation that can otherwise lead to a significant risk of injury.

Furthermore, it is preferably provided that the cover part of the vessel has at least one sealing device in the area of the cover part's outer circumferential engagement with the housing part. In this respect, the cover part, supported on an internal shoulder of the housing part, can be guided in a sealing manner along the internal circumferential side of the housing part.

Referring to the simplified drawings, which are not drawn to scale,

FIG. 1 is a perspective top view of the vessel with the inserted cover part, including the contact segments;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the vessel according to FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 to 5 are cross-sectional views of the upper area of the vessel along the intersecting line I-I from FIG. 2.

The vessel, in particular the pressure vessel, has a tubular housing part 10 in which a cover part 12 can be secured. In this case, the contact segments 18 are inserted at least in some areas in an annular recess 14 on the interior 16 of the housing part 10 (cf. sectional view according to FIG. 3), and these contact segments provide support for the cover part 12 in its installed state (depicted in FIG. 3) with parts of its upper side 20. Furthermore, there is at least one securing means 22, which guarantees a detachable engagement between the cover part 12 and at least one of the contact segments 18.

It is especially clear from FIGS. 1 and 2 that the contact segments 18 have a circular arc shape with a rectangular cross section, so that the relevant adjacent contact segments 18 abut each other at their end faces. Furthermore, it is clear from FIG. 3 that the tubular housing part 10 has an edge expansion 24 in the direction of its upper free edge; and this edge expansion is connected outwardly and inwardly in a sealing manner to the cylindrical housing part 10, which is designed otherwise as a thin wall, by means of circumferential fillet welds 26. At the point of the innermost fillet weld 26 and directly above this point, the interior of the edge expansion 24 has an outwardly expanding shoulder 28, which provides support for the cover part 12 with parts of the underside 30 of the cover part 12. Furthermore, there is a sealing device 36 between the internal wall 32 of the edge expansion 24 and the cylindrical external wall 34 of the cover part 12; and this sealing device is accommodated, preferably as a captive sealing O-ring, in a corresponding receiving groove in the cover part 12.

In the embodiment according to FIG. 3, the securing means 22 can consist of a kind of securing pin or securing screw 38 that extends through an inside thread 40 of the contact segment 18 in the installed state. In any case, in the installed state the screw head of the securing screw 38 remains under the above edge delimitation, formed by the upper side 42 of the edge expansion 24 in order to be protected against damage and in order to help prevent, in particular, an inadvertent loosening of the securing screw 38. When seen in the direction of view of FIG. 2, the securing means 22 is not illustrated therein for the sake of a simpler depiction, but rather only the drilled holes 44 and the associated inside thread section 40 are depicted.

If the two external contact segments 18 are inserted into the annular recess 14 and moved into position, then the middle contact segment 18 can be inserted last by moving longitudinally along a central displacement axis 46, as a result of which the respective contact segments 18 are then placed in a self-retaining manner in the recess 14 as an essential component of the securing means 22. However, then the cover part 12, which had already been introduced before the insertion of the respective contact segments 18, has to be moved into a position relative to the contact segments 18 in such a way that in any case the bottom free end 48 of the securing means 22 in the form of the securing screw 38 or a securing pin can engage, according to the drawing of FIG. 3, in alignment with an annular recess 50, which is wider than said bottom free end and which issues with its upper free end from the cover part 12 and is defined upward by the bottom contact wall of the associated contact segment 18 when the cover part 12 is in the installed state, according to the drawing from FIG. 3.

Into this annular recess 50 is inserted a retaining element 52, which is constructed, for example, as a snap ring, held by the cover part 12 with retaining element parts, and projects into the annular recess 50 with a specifiable protrusion. The annular recess 50 is closed downward by a contact plate 54, which is preferably a one-piece component of a pressure relief element 56, which can be screwed in the manner of a screw insert into an inside thread 58 of the cover part 12 in the region of the upper middle of the contact plate 54, for example, by means of a hexagonal socket screw that is not illustrated. In this case, the central region of the insert-like pressure relief device 56 has a circumferential pressure guide groove 60, into which at least one pressure channel 62 empties in such a way that the location of such a mouth opening can also be partially interrupted by an intermediate web.

When the cover part 12 is removed, the said pressure relief device 56 is used for the purpose of being able to produce a pressure reduction in the vessel interior 64 relative to the surrounding area, provided that the removal of the respective securing means 22 in the form of the respective securing screw 38 allows the cover part 12 to be supported exclusively then only by the contact segments 18, which are held in this respect by the recess 14 inside the edge expansion 24 as the remaining securing means 22. In this case, the said hexagonal socket screw serves to unscrew the contact plate 54 out of the inside thread 58 with the adjoining engagement pin, with the result that the overpressure prevailing in the vessel interior 64 can escape through the pressure channel 62 and the pressure guide groove 60 into the environment by way of the respective drilled holes 44 in the contact segment 18. For such a pressure guide, the diameter of the contact plate 54 is chosen somewhat smaller than the diameter of the annular recess 50.

If the insert in the form of the pressure relief element 56 is used, then the securing screw 38 can be replaced with a securing pin (not illustrated in detail), which engages with the annular recess 50 in the cover part 12 without the threaded connection by way of the drilled hole 44 of the contact segment 18. If the securing screw 38 is used, then the insert-like pressure relief element 56 can be configured loosely in the cover part 12 without the threaded engagement, because in any case it is held by the retaining element 52. As soon as the pressure in the vessel interior 64 is reduced in this context, the removal of the contact segments 18 from the recess 14 in the housing part 10 is possible with the subsequent axial removal of the cover part 12 from the housing part 10 by way of its edge expansion 24.

Such a removal of the cover part 12 can be necessary, for example, for inspection purposes of the vessel interior 64 or if the vessel accommodates a filter (not illustrated), which has to be exchanged, as necessary, for a new element in the event of fouling. However, the illustrated vessel designed as a single tank unit can also be cleaned of contaminants with the removal of the cover part 12. If, nevertheless, the vessel interior 64 is under pressure, for example, by increasing the pressure by way of the inflows and outflows (not illustrated in detail), which empty into the housing part 10, the cover part 12 is pushed, starting from the vessel interior 64, against the contact segments 18 from the underside, so that a sealing closure of the vessel interior 64 relative to the environment is achieved in the area of engagement, to which end the aforementioned sealing device 36 also contributes.

In order to achieve a correspondingly good centering of the contact segments 18 inside the recess 14, the edge expansion 24 of the housing part 12 is provided with an inlet slope 66 in the area, in which the edge expansion 24 opens into the atmosphere, in addition to the insertable contact segment 18 in this area. Said inlet slope serves as a centering guide and support and defines a kind of clamping channel that helps to prevent the contact segments 18 from being lifted inadvertently from their recess 14 as soon as the vessel interior 64 is suitably pressurized.

In order for the individual contact segments 18 to be able to form a common end stop limiter inside the housing part 10, which provides a support for the cover part 12, the invention provides that the end faces 68 of the contact segments 18 run parallel to one of the central axes as the displacement axis 46 of the cover part 12; and this displacement axis in turn is arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 70 of the housing part 10. In order to avoid overdetermination and to ensure that any super-fine tolerances prevent a system-compatible installation of the contact segments 18 in the recess 14, the invention provides that a spacing and/or positioning element 72, which can be made preferably of a sheet metal strip in the form of a spring component (see FIG. 2), is inserted between at least two contact segments 18.

The embodiments according to FIGS. 4 and 5 are explained only insofar as they differ significantly from the embodiment according to the aforementioned figures. In this case, identical components are provided with the same reference numerals; and the statements that are involved in this respect also apply to the modified embodiments according to FIGS. 4 and 5.

The embodiment according to FIGS. 4 and 5 has a penetration screw as the securing screw 38, which in this case extends through the drilled hole 44 without an inside thread in the assigned contact segment 18, so that the securing screw 38 is guided with its free end 48 along the inside thread 58 in the cover part 12 and serves as the pressure relief device 56—in this case a kind of non-return ball valve 74 that is held in the annular recess 50 in the cover part 12. At this point, the respective pressure channel 62 runs inside the longitudinal shank of the securing screw 38; the securing screw 38 is unscrewed for a disassembly operation; the non-return ball valve 74 releases the vessel interior 64 relative to the environment by way of the annular recess 50 and the respective pressure channel 62 without being able to issue inadvertently into the atmosphere.

The embodiment in FIG. 5 is modified with respect to that in FIG. 4 to the effect that the non-return ball valve 74 that is provided as the pressure relief device 56 is replaced with a pressure relief element 56, which is designed, according to FIG. 3, as an insert. In this case, the upper side of the pressure relief element is connected in one piece directly to the bottom free end 48 of the securing screw 38, however without the contact plate 54. Even in the case of such a modified embodiment, when the securing screw is unscrewed, the pressure channel 62 in the insert is connected in a medium-conducting manner by way of the annular channel as the pressure guide groove 60 to the additional axially extending pressure channels 62 inside the securing screw in order to achieve in this way a pressure reduction in the vessel interior 64 relative to the environment.

In conformity with the solution according to FIG. 5, the insert-like relief element 56 according to FIG. 3 does not have to enter into a threaded connection with the cover part 12; rather, it suffices if such a pressure relief element 56 with its contact plate 54 is supported in a pressure blocking way on the underside 48 of the securing screw 38, provided this screw is screwed into the adjacent contact segment 18. In such a pressure-induced raised situation for the pressure relief element 56, the pressure guide groove 60 and the pressure channel 62 have to be run, however, in such a way that the pressure cannot be reduced inadvertently in the vessel interior 64. If, in turn, the pressure relief device 56 is screwed, as described, into the cover part 12, it may also suffice to place, instead of the securing screw 38, a simple securing pin, in order to show to an operator, for example, the position of the installed pressure relief device 56 in the cover part 12. A preferred embodiment of the vessel according to the invention provides that each of the contact segments 18 has at least one securing screw 38, so that there is no possibility of an incorrect assembly, a feature that is especially important if the fast action closure for pressure vessels is used under extremely stringent safety aspects. 

1. A vessel, in particular a pressure vessel, having a tubular housing part (10), in which a cover part (12) can be secured, characterized in that contact segments (18) are inserted at least in some areas in a recess (14) on the interior (16) of the housing part (10), and these contact segments provide support for the cover part (12) in its installed state and that there is at least one securing means (22), which ensures a detachable engagement between the cover part (12) and at least one of the contact segments (18).
 2. The vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that the contact segments (18) have a circular arc shape.
 3. The vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that the adjacent contact segments (18) abut each other at the end face.
 4. The vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that the respective securing means (22) consists of a securing pin or a securing screw (38) that extends through at least one of the contact segments (18) and that engages at least in some areas with an assigned opening (50) of the cover part (12) and/or that the respective securing means (22) consists, at least in some areas, of the recess (14) on the interior (16) of the housing part (10).
 5. The vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that the contact segments (18) form a common end stop limiter inside the housing part (10), which provides support for the cover part (12).
 6. The vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that the end faces (68) of the contact segments (18) run parallel to one of the central axes (46) of the cover part (12); and these central axes are arranged perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (70) of the housing part (10).
 7. The vessel according to claim 6, characterized in that, when the contact segments (18) are inserted at least in pairs into the recess (14) of the housing part (10), the contact segment (18) that is to be inserted last can be inserted into the recess (14) in parallel to the end faces (68) of the adjacent contact segments (18).
 8. The vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that the contact segments (18) that are inserted into the recess (14) in the housing part (10) form an essentially closed contact ring for the engagement of the cover part (12).
 9. The vessel according to claim 2, characterized in that at least one spacing and/or positioning element (72), which is made preferably of a sheet metal strip, can be inserted between the adjacent end faces (68) of two abutting contact segments (18).
 10. The vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that in the area in which the housing part (10) opens into the atmosphere, the recess (14) and/or the respective contact segment (18) that can be inserted is provided with an inlet slope (66) that serves as a centering guide and support.
 11. The vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover part (12) has at least one pressure relief element (56) that allows a continuous release of any overpressure that may prevail in the housing part (10) relative to the ambient pressure from the assignable contact segment (18) when at least one of the respective securing screws (38) is present.
 12. The vessel according to claim 1, characterized in that the cover part (12) has at least one sealing device (36) in the area of the cover part's outer circumferential engagement (34) with the housing part (10). 